WOODBRIDGE, Va. – Senator Mark Warner stopped by Northern Virginia Community College on Sunday to continue his push for national immigration reform.

During a special town hall meeting the college’s Woodbridge campus, Warner touted the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. The bill calls for stricter security along the southern U.S. border with Mexico, the implementation of eVerify system to check legal statuses of workers, for “blue card status” to be applied to those who have performed agriculture work, and for a merit-based immigration system for future immigrants that would cap the number of new migrants to the U.S. at 250,000.

Warner said the topic of immigration has been a tough one to tackle, but and added reform is long overdue.

“I could move to China and live out the rest of my life there and never become Chinese…America is the only place where people can come and be first-generation citizens,” said Warner.

Referring to an illegal immigration debate that raged in Prince William County in 2007, when elected leaders wanted to implement a new policy that would allow police to perform an on-the-spot check of anyone suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, Warner said the area was “ground zero” for the immigration debate,and propelled some area politicians into higher office.

While the policy was changed and immigration status now processed after an arrest has been made, Warner said more needs to be done with local chambers of commerce and the business community to bring them into the discussion of immigration reform.

“The time is now over the next 90 days to see if we can get legislation passed. Even if comes in a series of small bills, we need to get reform,” said Warner.

The senior senator from Virginia aims to get his immigration bill through congress prior to next year’s midterm elections.

“If we wait for next year it will be more difficult,” he added.

Following Warner’s remarks, a panel of community leaders held a discussion for an audience of about 50 people who filled the auditorium at the community college. The event was sponsored by the Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Action (HOLA) and the League of United Latin American Citizens.